Rating: 
Summary: Donnie Darko, aka Most Original Movie of the Past 20 years
Review: This film is, quite simply, brilliant. Unrelenting in its haunting, mystical and totally engrossing style, it is a "how-to" of entertaining, intellectual paranoia. The basic elements of the plot involve a troubled, over-educated, misunderstood youth, who is taking pills for his undisclosed problems. He happens to know that Armageddon is coming, as he was told by a 6 foot rabbit with the voice of Freddy Krueger. As the days count down, Donnie rebels against the system and causes general chaos, all the while maintaining that the rabbit instructs him to commit these vandalistic acts, and that they will help to save the world. On the night when Armageddon is supposed to occur, a series of events takes place and all the loose ends are tied up in a way that is both beautiful and utterly confusing. It will require at least another two viewings for you to fully understand what happened, and even then you may not be sure. An intellectual delight.
Rating: 
Summary: Donnie Darko is so good, it's on my top 100
Review: Donnie Darko is a film about existence, death, and teenage angst. Donnie Darko is beautiful, and powerful, and funny all at the same time. Though the film isn't perfect, freshman writer/director Richard Kelley delivers enough great moments to make Donnie Darko a must-see. I always say that I love seeing a film that shows me something new. Donnie Darko isn't a cliche teen horror film, and it's not a silly sci-fi rehash. I didn't know anything about the plot of Donnie Darko beforehand - and I'm glad I didn't. This film is deep and thoughtful; thoughtful in a way that stays with you intensely for several hours. I must give a specific mention to the original music in Donnie Darko. All of the music is a perfect complement to the film's mood - somber, yet positive. Additionally, the theme song for the film is just stunning. Who would have thought a remake of the Tears For Fears song "Mad World" would work so well here? Jake Gyllenhaal does a fine job playing the disturbed lead character. His task is not an easy one. Gyllenhaal has to play a character that is simultaneously smart, scared, and drugged. Also very good is Mary McDonnell as Donnie's mother. A lesser director might have painted Donnie's parents as mean or unsympathetic. The only bad performance was Drew Barrymore. Thankfully, she only has about six minutes of screen time. Other than Barrymore, almost all of the performances are very good.
Rating:
Summary: you won't believe this one
Review: My 16 yo son and I had to cheat. After watching the movie, we had to watch the last 15 minutes again with the director's commentary on so we figure out what had happened. Naturally, we then had to watch the movie all over again to see how it fit together. This movie drags you deeper and deeper into the main character's world even when both you and the character are not sure what's real. It all seems to make some bizaar linear sense until the very end when it all seems to unravel. Has the character gone completely insane? Have you gone completely insane? Hard to know. My son recognized many of the younger stars. I (55 yo) recognized only the mother (president's wife from "Independence day"). If you like your movies to engage and involve you then this is one you should not miss.
Rating:
Summary: Not another teen movie... in fact, far from it!
Review: This movie was often showcased in "My Recommendations" on Amazon. I just overlooked it, and continued on my way through the site - though I did enjoy hearing the title track and cover of Tears For Fears' "Mad World" by Gary Jules. Last weekend, I came across the DVD in the under $10 bin at a local store, and figured it was worth a shot. The box said little about the plot, and I figured I needed to keep my opinion here relatively the same. Initially seeing Drew Barrymore (and her company, Flower Films) as one of the executive producers, I expected some pop, bubble gum, teen flick along the lines of her bookend Charlie's Angels with a Final Destination undertone. To my surprise this Richard Kelly script delivered a stark and sterile vision of life though often over-medicated American eyes. It places the 6'-tall rabbit of "Harvey (1950)" into the setting of darker "Magnolia (1999)" and its self help videos, with a dash of Alan Ball (American Beauty/Six Feet Under) into a blender, but comes out original and enjoyable. Don't wait two years (like I did) to see it, and don't read all the plot spoilers leaked everywhere else - just watch and discover it for yourself. It will be good to see if Richard Kelly can continue this creative and smart style of filmmaking.
Rating:
Summary: Hypnotically awesome movie ...
Review: This was a strangely hypnotic movie ... it started out with a weird twist and as it moved along the plot became more and more bizarre ..... but in a good way. The end of the movie really suprised me .... with all the twists and changes within the plot, I was so completely engrossed that I didn't see the plot moving in the direction that it did! A most excellent portrayl by Jake Gyllenhaal, as Donnie who is portrayed as a border-line schizophrenic teen, gets you totally into the movie right from the start. I give this baby a 5+ .... absolutely brilliant! The whole cast and crew have excelled themselves and I definitely recommend this to anyone who likes movies that are different from the rest, stand out from the crowd, and make you think! Give it a go, Kristina
Rating:
Summary: Cellar Door
Review: Whoa is all I can say, this movie really blew my mind! It looked like a vary different movie and I was unsure id like it, to tell you the truth I had to watch the movie twice to understand it all. Then I watched the commentary, and then fully understood the movie. It not only has a great cast, and story, but really good acting. I thought it was funny when Drew Barrymore's character say that cellar door is the most beautiful word in the English language, not knowing that she's leading Donnie towards his fate.......It was a great movie with a lot of twists and I would recommend it to science fiction fans everywhere!
Rating:
Summary: An Alternate Reality Created By The Mind of Donnie Darko.
Review: Spoiler Warning. The trick to understanding this movie is to realise that Donnie's alternate reality is a dream/premonition of a possible future that could happen if he chooses to get out of bed before the jet engine hits his room. The alternate reality is a creation of Donnie subconscious mind and Frank is a physical representation of that subconscious mind, within that alternate reality. Frank is the part of Donnie's mind that created the alternate reality. Frank guides Donnie, who is one of the characters within that alternat reality down the correct path. Frank knows everything that is going to happen, how long the alternate reality will exist for and every character within that alternate reality. The time travel idea is another part of Donnie's subconscious mind, which gives Donnie a doorway out of the alternate reality and back to normal reality. Frank and the time travel part of the film are not meant to be taken literally, they are just parts of Donnie's subconscious mind. If you look at the film in this way it will begin to make sense. I think that anybody that gives this film a five star rating in some way understands this and understands how clever and mind blowing this film is.
Rating:
Summary: Wow... amazing
Review: See this movie. Words cannot describe the plot, just as they cannot describe how incredible this film is. Amazing. You must see it right now. Funny, sad, moving, perplexing, its got it all. What an amazing beginning by Richard Kelly, I can't wait for his next film. BUY THIS MOVIE, you'll thank me later.
Rating:
Summary: good movie, great soundtrack
Review: The movie was pretty depressing. It's one of those films that you may want to watch several times to get it all. It is a movie that makes you think about reality. Donnie Darko is a mixture between dark humor and college film student stuff. I did like the movie because it was definately 'out there'. What I really liked was the music in the movie. Too bad they don't have a soundtrack. They only have a 'score' for the movie. There are also alot of famous actors in the movie. Overall, I give it either 3 1/2 or 4 stars. It's worth the 12 bucks.
Rating:
Summary: Perplexing, depressing and very, very bunny...err...funny.
Review: For the most part it's easy to be able to classify most films, be they sci-fi, romance, horror etc... Certain elements are present in a type of film that allows you to generalise it within a certain bracket. Every so often, however, there comes a film that defies conventional genres, and mixes and matches elements to create something truly unique. Donnie Darko is just that, a bizarre mismatch of black comedy, perplexing science fiction and teenage romance. And strange though the hybrid may be, it works. Donnie (Jake Gyllenhaal) is a likeable if somewhat hopeless teen with serious emotional disfunctions. The movie finds him being plagued by hallucinations of a man in a bunny suit and a leering mask named 'Frank', who tells him quite matter of factly that the world is to end in twenty eight days. What follows is a wonderfully scripted and extremely deep and involving film that will leave even the most elitist viewers baffled for several hours if not days afterwards. Throughout the course of the movie, director Richard Kelly brings in theories on religion, destiny and even time travel! To say any more would be to spoil what is doubtless one of the greatest cinematic treats of the last few years, but this is one of those films that really has something for everyone. It'll be plagued by misunderstanding and dumbing down by those who fail to see all it has to offer, but for those who see it for what it is, Donnie Darko is a gem.
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